Egypt to achieve GDP of 5.3% in 2017/18

CAIRO – 4 December 2018: Minister of Finance Mohamed Ma’it said that Egypt achieved an increase in the gross domestic product (GDP) to 5.3 percent in 2017/2018, up from an average of 2.3 percent between 2011 and 2014.

The minister added that Egypt targets a growth rate of 5.8 percent during the current fiscal year 2018/2019.

“Fiscal consolidation efforts have been intact, resulting in a primary budget surplus of 2 percent of GDP in fiscal year 2017/2018 for the first time in 18 years,” he stated.

Overall fiscal deficit was also reduced from a peak of 16.7 percent of GDP in FY13/14 to 9.8 percent of GDP in FY17/18, with an expectation to reach 8.4 percent this fiscal year, Ma’it noted.

During the first quarter of 2018/2019, the minister said that the overall budget deficit fell to 1.9 percent of GDP, compared to an average of 2.3 percent for the same quarter over the past three years, adding that this provided enough funds for increasing spending on social measures, including food subsidies and cash transfers, as well as government investment spending to support growth targets.

The minister of finance also pointed out the debt management strategy to reduce debt-to-GDP ratio as well as debt service cost, whereby total government debt was reduced from 108 percent of GDP in FY16/17 to 98 percent in FY18/19.

CAIRO - 2 December 2018: Egypt's revenues increased 35 percent during the first quarter of 2018/2019, according to Minister of Finance Mohamed Ma'it. The minister said that his country targets a budget deficit less than 5 percent in 2021. Ma'it added that Egypt achieved its target during the first quarter of 2018/2019.

Tax treatment on bills and bonds

“The minister of finance referred to the latest amendments to the tax treatment on the returns of bills and bonds, which were adapted to comply with the best international practices applied in most countries and to deal with some imbalances in the previous application; without imposing any new tax burden in relation to the tax rate or tax policy on investors in government securities,” a statement of Beltone revealed.

The current tax rate on the proceeds of government securities is set at 20 percent, while the tax on commercial and industrial profits is set at 22.5 percent, according to the statement.

“The move ensures tax equality with regards to financial institutions investment in government securities and also the fair collection of taxes due on profits earned from the rest of their activities,” the minister added.

CAIRO-2 December 2018: Minister of Finance Mohamed Ma'it revealed the reason behind the financial treatments of T-bills' taxes, saying that it's one of the rights of the treasury. Ma'it notes the share of the treasury from the taxes wasn't collected before.